II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 518 

To enhance coverage and oversight of occupational safety and health 

standards in correctional facilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2023 

Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To enhance coverage and oversight of occupational safety 

and health standards in correctional facilities, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Correctional Facilities 

5 Occupational Safety and Health Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COVERAGE OF INCARCERATED WORKERS UNDER 

7 THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH 

8 ACT OF 1970. 

9 (a) DEFINITION OF CORRECTIONAL FACILITY.—Sec10 tion 3 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 


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1 (29 U.S.C. 652) is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(15) The term ‘correctional facility’ has the 

4 meaning given the term in section 901(a) Omnibus 

5 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 

6 U.S.C. 10251(a)).’’. 

7 (b) STATE PLANS.—Section 18 of the Occupational 

8 Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 667) is amend9 ed— 

10 (1) in subsection (c)— 

11 (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘political 

12 subdivisions,’’ and inserting ‘‘political subdivi13 sions and to all incarcerated workers,’’; and 

14 (B) in paragraph (7)— 

15 (i) by striking ‘‘(7) requires’’ and in16 serting ‘‘(7)(A) requires’’; and 

17 (ii) by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(B) requires the State to ensure that any pub20 lic agency of the State (or of a political subdivision 

21 of the State) operating a correctional facility or con22 tracting with a private entity to operate such a facil23 ity, shall, not later than 2 years after the date of en24 actment of the Correctional Facilities Occupational 

25 Safety and Health Act of 2023, and every year 


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1 thereafter, submit to the Attorney General and Con2 gress a report on— 

3 ‘‘(i) the workplace safety and health condi4 tions at each such facility, and 

5 ‘‘(ii) any potential noncompliance of each 

6 such facility with the safety and health stand7 ards under the State plan, and’’; and 

8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION OF INCARCERATED WORKER.—In 

10 this section, the term ‘incarcerated worker’ means an indi11 vidual, incarcerated or detained in a correctional facility 

12 operated by a public agency of a State or political subdivi13 sion of a State (or by a private entity through a contract 

14 with a State or political subdivision of a State), who per15 forms work offered or required by or through the correc16 tional facility, including work associated with prison work 

17 programs, work release programs, State prison industries, 

18 public works programs, restitution centers, correctional fa19 cility operations and maintenance, and private entities.’’. 

20 (c) FEDERAL PRISONS.—Section 19 of the Occupa21 tional Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 668) 

22 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(e) BUREAU OF PRISONS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau 

25 of Prisons shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) ensure that the occupational safety 

2 and health program established and maintained 

3 by the Director under subsection (a) shall apply 

4 with respect to incarcerated workers in the 

5 same manner as the program applies to employ6 ees of the Bureau of Prisons; and 

7 ‘‘(B) agree to submit, not later than 2 

8 years after the date of enactment of the Correc9 tional Facilities Occupational Safety and 

10 Health Act of 2023, and every year thereafter, 

11 to the Attorney General and Congress, a report 

12 on— 

13 ‘‘(i) the workplace safety and health 

14 conditions at any correctional facility oper15 ated by the Bureau of Prisons or a private 

16 entity contracting with Bureau of Prisons; 

17 ‘‘(ii) any injury or death of any em18 ployee or incarcerated worker while per19 forming labor with respect to such facility; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(iii) any potential noncompliance of 

22 any such facility of such occupational safe23 ty and health program. 

24 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION OF INCARCERATED WORK25 ER.—In this section, the term ‘incarcerated worker’ 


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1 means an individual, incarcerated or detained in a 

2 correctional facility operated by the Bureau of Pris3 ons (or by a private entity through a contract with 

4 the Bureau of Prisons), who performs work offered 

5 or required by or through the correctional facility, 

6 including work associated with prison work pro7 grams, work release programs, the UNICOR pro8 gram, public works programs, restitution centers, 

9 correctional facility operations and maintenance, and 

10 private entities.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. INCENTIVES FOR STATES TO ENACT PROTECTIONS 

12 FOR INCARCERATED WORKERS. 

13 Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

14 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) is amend15 ed— 

16 (1) in section 501 (34 U.S.C. 10152), by add17 ing at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(i) ANNUAL REPORT ON WORKPLACE SAFETY AND

19 HEALTH CONDITIONS.—Not later than 2 years after the 

20 date of enactment of the Correctional Facilities Occupa21 tional Safety and Health Act of 2023 and annually there22 after, any State or unit of local government that receives 

23 a grant under this section and operates a correctional fa24 cility or contracts with a private entity to operate a correcVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Mar 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S518.IS S518

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1 tional facility shall submit to the Attorney General and 

2 Congress a report on— 

3 ‘‘(1) the workplace safety and health conditions 

4 at each such correctional facility; 

5 ‘‘(2) any injury or death of any employee or in6 carcerated worker while performing work with re7 spect to any such correctional facility; and 

8 ‘‘(3) any potential noncompliance of any such 

9 correctional facility with the occupational safety and 

10 health standards that apply to the correctional facil11 ity.’’; 

12 (2) in section 502 (34 U.S.C. 10153)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘(A) In general’’ and in14 serting ‘‘(a) In general’’; and 

15 (B) in subsection (a), by adding at the end 

16 the following: 

17 ‘‘(7) A certification, to be verified by the Attor18 ney General, in consultation with the Assistant Sec19 retary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, 

20 that— 

21 ‘‘(A) the State or unit of local govern22 ment— 

23 ‘‘(i) has provided workplace safety 

24 and health protections for incarcerated 

25 workers in correctional facilities, either by 


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1 legislative or executive action, that are at 

2 least as effective in providing safe and 

3 healthful employment and places of em4 ployment for incarcerated workers as the 

5 comprehensive occupational safety and 

6 health programs established by States 

7 under section 18 of the Occupational Safe8 ty and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 

9 667); or 

10 ‘‘(ii) not later than the last day of the 

11 fiscal year following the fiscal year to 

12 which the application relates, will have pro13 vided the protections described in clause 

14 (i), with the limitation that a certification 

15 under this clause may only be submitted 

16 one time; and 

17 ‘‘(B) an appropriate State or local agency 

18 monitors and enforces or will monitor or en19 force, as applicable, the safety and health pro20 tections described in subparagraph (A)(i).’’; 

21 (3) in section 506 (34 U.S.C. 10157), by add22 ing at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(c) Of the total amount made available to carry out 

24 this subpart for a fiscal year, the Attorney General, in con25 sultation with the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OccuVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Mar 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S518.IS S518

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1 pational Safety and Health, shall reserve not less than 

2 $20,000,000 for use by States and units of local govern3 ment to establish and implement workplace safety and 

4 health protections for incarcerated workers in correctional 

5 facilities.’’; and 

6 (4) in section 901(a) (34 U.S.C. 10251(a))— 

7 (A) in paragraph (27), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

8 at the end; 

9 (B) in paragraph (28), by striking the pe10 riod at the end and adding ‘‘; and’’; and 

11 (C) by inserting after paragraph (28) the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(29) the term ‘incarcerated worker’ means an 

14 individual, incarcerated or detained in a correctional 

15 facility operated by a State or a political subdivision 

16 of a State (or by a private entity through a contract 

17 with a State or political subdivision of a State), who 

18 performs work offered or required by or through the 

19 correctional facility, including work associated with 

20 prison work programs, work release programs, State 

21 prison industries, public works programs, restitution 

22 centers, correctional facility operations and mainte23 nance, and private entities.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO ASSIST STATES IN COVERING INCAR2 CERATED WORKERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor shall es4 tablish a grant program to award a grant to each State 

5 that submits an application satisfying the requirements 

6 under subsection (b) to assist the State in amending the 

7 occupational safety and health laws of the State to cover 

8 incarcerated workers and to enforce those laws as appro9 priate through inspections, investigations, citations, pen10 alties, and other enforcement mechanisms. 

11 (b) APPLICATIONS.—A State seeking a grant under 

12 this section shall submit an application to the Secretary 

13 at such time, in such manner, and containing such infor14 mation as the Secretary may reasonably require. 

15 (c) DEFINITION OF INCARCERATED WORKER.—In 

16 this section, the term ‘‘incarcerated worker’’ has the 

17 meaning given such term in section 18(i) of the Occupa18 tional Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 667(i)). 

19 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

20 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

21 $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2029, 

22 to remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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